Just found this thread after buying (and using 2 times) a KitchenAid Artisan. Here in Europe there's no Pro versions, and decided not to go with the lifting bowl because of the nicer esthetics and easy mobility. I've already verified that the kneading action of the C hook isn't very efective, especially with low quantities. After starting reading this thread I ran and bought an spiral hook, but now I see that the hack only works with the lifting bowl model. Sigh.

Well, apart from ranting, this post was to say that maybe a hack similar to beaterblade.com (can't link yet, sorry), but just attached to the C hook instead of replacing it, might be done elegantly.

Does anyone know if the spiral hook will work with the KSM150 mixers? It has the tilt back instead of the rising one. I really don't care if I burn out the motor since I'm tired of the crappy C hook just grabbing the dough and taking it for a ride. The mixer is completely useless with the C hook. The only kneading it does when I try 1 batch of Tom Lehmann dough is by air. It literally swings the dough around on the hook and never pushes it down or into the sides. I thought I read somewhere that someone said the spiral hook will hit the bottom of other artisan mixers, but I'm not sure about this one. It's a 5-quart mixer.

Does anyone know if the spiral hook will work with the KSM150 mixers? It has the tilt back instead of the rising one. I really don't care if I burn out the motor since I'm tired of the crappy C hook just grabbing the dough and taking it for a ride. The mixer is completely useless with the C hook. The only kneading it does when I try 1 batch of Tom Lehmann dough is by air. It literally swings the dough around on the hook and never pushes it down or into the sides. I thought I read somewhere that someone said the spiral hook will hit the bottom of the bowl on this model, but I'm not sure.

It was a while ago, but when I researched this originally it was reported that the spiral hook works with any of the 5 qt bowl sized Kitchen Aids, which I believe you have. Mine is quite old and a 4.5 qt bowl model so I never pursued further.There is/was a Kitchen Aid forum with tons of info on this back then, but I did not save any links.

So - LET THE AMAZON BUYER BEWARE! Or at least if you want to avoid my fate of ordering the slightly wrong hook!

Anyway, the new (slightly wrong) hook works very, very nicely. Although the stock N50 hook is a well-machined heavy duty item, the KNS26BDH is no slouch either, and looks suitably industrial - well done KA on this! I can't believe how cheaply these are going for.

Performance-wise, there is no more dough climbing, and it seems to give it a good thorough knead. I'm pretty sure the over-engineering of the N50 will minimise any untoward effects of the spiral action on the planetary - but will report back if there are ever any issues in this regard.

The only minor issue is that there is just a fraction too much clearance above the bottom of the bowl, which means it needs a little prod to get the dough to come together with smaller batches. Larger batches (>1kg) are fine, and once the dough is together, the kneading is excellent. As noted above, this is due to having the wide bowl version (which surprisingly has adequate clearance around the bowl).

I've just ordered a KNS25BDH from ebay... this is a slightly deeper / longer hook, so should be perfect. Will report back in due course.

[EDIT: Amazon has just emailed, thanking me for pointing out their error. They fully refunded my purchase AND - due to the return shipping cost - allowed me to keep the KNS256BDH. Great customer service to 'em, I say!]

Holy spiral dough hooks! I hadn't seen that hook for the N50 before! I'm a) annoyed I haven't seen it to try it and b) pleased that it means the N50 is capable of running a spiral without damage (although my assessment of it's planetary design led me to the conclusion already).

Hi breadman_nz,The spiral hook shown on the link above is the one which came with my N50. It appears to me that Hobart fairly recently replaced the antique C-hook by the spiral new one.If we refer to the Hobart denomination : 'E' = C-shaped, and 'ED' = spiral. So, if you bought a 'ED' hook, then your local distributor should have provided the spiral new model, but maybe he preferred to sell an old C-shaped remaining in his stock.

By the way, I already bought another N50 hook from Globe, and they provided me the spiral one, even if the photo on their website is not up to date (the C-shaped is supposed to be discontinued).Regards.

That's great info. I'm semi-annoyed that between Globe Equipment's old picture, and my local supplier sending a 'c' hook, that I was unaware for so long of the proper N50 spiral hook being available. Google failed to help - searching for 'N50 spiral dough hook' as I did originally doesn't exactly bring up relevant info.

UPDATE: I've since tried a couple of more hooks on my N50, including the official OEM one pictured above.

1) The KNS25BDH hook - which is for the KA 5Qt 'narrow bowl'. Its sweep was too narrow to effectively get the dough together and mix it. Not enough 'action' on the dough.

2) The OEM Hobart spiral hook for the N50, part no. "EDDOUGH-ALU005". Interestingly, I have found it's not quite as effective as the KNS256BDH. It has a good action and gets the dough together well enough, however the dough has a slightly higher tendency to ride up the hook and spin around when compared to the KNS256BDH. It's still significantly better than the stock 'c' hook. Anyway, your mileage may vary with an N50, depending on exact tolerances.

In order to get the dough together, I've now taken to using the beater first for about 30 seconds, then use the beater once the dough is together. Much more effective and efficient than watching the hook (any of them) trying to coalesce the flour and water!